Second suspect pleads not guilty in Kerrville toddlers’ deaths

Kevin Franke, 17, of Kerrville, faces charges in the deaths of two toddlers left in a vehicle in June.

Kevin Franke, 17, of Kerrville, faces charges in the deaths of two toddlers left in a vehicle in June.

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Photo: Courtesy

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Kevin Franke, 17, of Kerrville, faces charges in the deaths of two toddlers left in a vehicle in June.

Kevin Franke, 17, of Kerrville, faces charges in the deaths of two toddlers left in a vehicle in June.

Photo: Courtesy

Second suspect pleads not guilty in Kerrville toddlers’ deaths

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A Kerrville teen pleaded not guilty Thursday to six felony charges recently filed against him over the deaths last June of two toddlers who overheated while left in a vehicle outside a house overnight, a tragedy for which the victims’ mother also faces charges.

Kevin Franke, now 17, was 16 when he spent part of the night in an SUV with Brynn Hawkins, 1, and Addyson Overgard-Eddy, 2, who were secured in their car seats from 9 p.m. on June 6 until noon the next day, police said. He’s accused of leaving the girls alone in the vehicle when he went back into the house about 8 a.m., failing to alert Hawkins they were outside and failing to promptly seek medical care when they were found.

Hawkins is scheduled to stand trial May 21 in Kerr County on two counts of injury to a child and two counts of child endangerment/abandonment. She’s been jailed under $300,000 bond since June 7.

A Kerr County grand jury considered the case April 16 and indicted Franke on two counts of manslaughter, two counts of injury to a child and two counts of child endangerment/abandonment — all second degree felonies.

He is being held at the Kerr County Jail on combined bonds totaling $300,000, records show.

District Attorney Lucy Wilke said Franke entered not guilty pleas to all charges on Thursday in Kerr County district court. She declined further comment.

The attorneys for Franke, Joe Gonzales and Christian Henricksen, could not be reached for comment.

Gonzales, who in February opposed the move to certify Franke as an adult, said then that Franke should, at most, face child abandonment charges in juvenile court.

“My client has maintained all along that he was not aware the young girls were sitting in the back of the vehicle … and did not hear any noise from these girls,” he said in February. “This is nothing more than accidental deaths that occurred because their mother put the girls in that situation.”

The manslaughter indictments against Franke allege that he recklessly caused the victims’ deaths by turning off the vehicle’s engine and rolling up its windows before leaving them inside, and failing to alert Hawkins to the situation or promptly seek medical attention. It further alleges the crime was committed with use of a deadly weapon, the vehicle, which enhances the potential punishment range, if convicted.

A deadly weapon claim is also made in the two indictments returned on charges of injury to a child, which accuses Franke of causing serious bodily injuries to the victims by act or omission. The language in those indictments closely follows that of the manslaughter charges.

The abandonment charges against Franke allege that he had assumed care, custody or control over the girls and intentionally abandoned them in a place that exposed them to “an unreasonable risk of harm...( and)... in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment.”